Journey 350: Dinner & Christmas Shopping with Dayan

This evening it was Dayan’s turn to shop for Christmas gifts for his family, and go to dinner with me. I picked him up from school, and as we usually do on Wednesday afternoons, we watched Doctor Who. As of today, I am officially caught on and current on this show, which features the 12th Doctor, Peter Capaldi. I will be able to watch the Christmas special with Dayan.

Immediately after the conclusion of the final episode of the season, we headed into Joplin to shop. One difference in taking a 16 year old shopping is that Dayan did all the driving this evening, which was a nice treat for me! As he expertly handled the car, we chatted about Doctor Who, school and where our first stop would be.

Dayan is my first grandchild, and the oldest of the grandkids. In fact, he was my only grandchild for a while. When he was young, I would take him shopping at Christmas time for his family. He’s always amazed me with his ability to select meaningful, thoughtful gifts, even when he was a wee lad. As he got older, we switched for a time to making gifts for the family. That was fun as well.

I felt quite nostalgic, taking this grandson, now a young man, out shopping again. As I suspected, he was the fastest shopper so far. He had ideas and those came together rapidly. For the gifts that he was undecided about, plans fell into place with ease, and he was happy with his purchases.

Dayan selected Cici’s Pizza for dinner, a great buffet style restaurant. As we walked in, the manager instructed an employee to lock the door behind us. Cici’s was preparing for a company Christmas party. We were told we could stay and eat. What perfect timing!

We enjoyed our dinner, and more interesting conversation, in a party atmosphere! There was a Santa handing out gifts to children of the employees, and a steady stream of people carrying in treats and food prepared at home. Dayan and I decided that if one worked at a pizza restaurant, one would want anything but pizza at the company Christmas party.

I watched Dayan interact with people…servers who were clearing tables and wiping down surfaces, and other staff sweeping floors and cleaning up. He’s always so gracious with others, going beyond politeness to show genuine interest in people. Although we were not pressured at all to eat quickly and leave, we didn’t linger over our meal so that the party could begin in earnest.

What a great evening with Dayan. Because he is allergic to cats, we did not stop at my house to wrap gifts. Instead, Dayan drove us back to his house and had the pleasure of telling his family to close their eyes while we carried bags of surprises into his room. He will wrap his presents on his own and slip them under the tree. One more child tomorrow night, grandson Jonathan, and that will conclude the Yaya and Grandchild shopping adventures for this year. This has been so fun!